FUTURE INTEREST
future interest.A property interest in which the privilege of possession or of other enjoyment
is future and not present. • A future interest can exist in either the grantor (as with a reversion) or
the grantee (as with a remainder or executory interest). Today, most future interests are equitable
interests in stocks and debt securities, with power of sale in a trustee. — Also termed future estate;
expectant estate; estate in expectancy; nonpossessory estate. Cf. present interest under
INTEREST(2). [Cases: Estates in Property 1. C.J.S. Estates §§ 2–5, 8, 15–21, 116–128, 137,
243.]
“[T]he interest is an existing interest from the time of its creation, and is looked upon as a
part of the total ownership of the land or other thing [that] is its subject matter. In that sense, future
interest is somewhat misleading, and it is applied only to indicate that the possession or enjoyment
of the subject matter is to take place in the future.” Lewis M. Simes & Allan F. Smith, The Law of
Future Interests§ 1, at 2–3 (2d ed. 1956).
“To own a future interest now means not only to be entitled now to judicial protection of
one’s possible future possession, but also (in most cases) to be able to make transfers now of that
right of possible future possession.” Thomas F. Bergin & Paul G. Haskell, Preface to Estates in
Land and Future Interests 56 (2d ed. 1984). “When O transfers today ‘to A for five years,’ we can
say either that O has a future interest or that he has a ‘present’ estate subject to a term for years in
- Similarly, when O transfers today his entire estate in fee simple absolute by a conveyance ‘to A
for five years, then to B and his heirs,’ we can say either that B has a future interest or that he has a
‘present’ estate subject to a term for years in A. Unhappily, the fact that we have two locutions
available to us can be a source of confusion ….” Id. at 42.[Blacks Law 8th]